Pair Had Turbulent Past

Charges May Come Next Week In Stabbing

December 9, 2000|By Stephanie Erickson of The Sentinel Staff

MOUNT DORA -- A woman remained in the hospital Friday after the slaying of her husband, who was found stabbed a day earlier with little hearts smeared in blood and the words "I love you" written on his chest.

Anna Tracy, who has told police the couple's two-year marriage was sometimes turbulent, could be charged as early as next week, authorities said. Investigators said her husband, Leo Tracy, left the home amid past marital problems. He had returned, but threatened to leave again just before the attack.

Police on Friday were trying to determine exactly how many times they had been called out to the Northland Road apartment in the Eudora Grove development.

"We have been out there on some disturbance calls,'' Mount Dora police Investigator Guy Dailey said. "We're trying to determine how many. It appears to be a few times.''

"We have not charged her at this point because of her medical condition,'' Dailey said. "We're still doing interviews with her and she is medically incapacitated at this point. Charges will be brought, but the jail is not a hospital.''

Police on Thursday arrived at the couple's apartment and found Anna Tracy with numerous self-inflicted cuts on both arms and injuries to her head. She "had more cuts than I could count,'' Dailey said.

But it was the swallowing of more than 100 pills -- about half of them Valium -- that left her in "guarded condition," authorities said. Doctors on Thursday pumped her stomach.

Leo Tracy was dead in the bedroom, lying on a bed, with a stab wound to the heart, police said. He had been dead for several hours, according to reports.

During a search of the apartment, which ended at midnight Thursday, police found the knife that had been used to kill Leo Tracy. Officers had to wait nearly seven hours for a search warrant before they could go back into the apartment.

Lake County Medical Examiner Dr. Valerie Rao said an autopsy was performed Friday morning and confirmed that the cause of death was a stab wound to the chest.

Anna and Leo Tracy married on Jan. 24, 1998, and one month later they moved into the Eudora Grove apartment, according to records. Each weekend, they sold NASCAR collectibles at Renninger's Florida Twin Markets in Mount Dora.